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[Rymuth]

It has come to my attention that people are unaware of this treasure trove of arcade titles, so I’ve decided to rectify this situation immediately!

Arcade Archives (アーケードアーカイブ&#12473 is a series of emulated Arcade machine game titles from the 1980s and 1990s for Sony's PlayStation 4 console published by Hamster Corporation.

Arcade Archives faithfully reproduces classic arcade games for the PS4. It also supports PS4 system features. Players can share screenshots and video with the SHARE feature, and compete with others in score for online ranking.

*in release order

RYGAR
Action | Players 1-2
Tecmo
Store | Gameplay Trailer

MAT MANIA EXCITING HOUR
Action | Players 1-2
Technos Japan
Store | Gameplay Trailer

City CONNECTION
Action | Players 1-2
JALECO
Store | Gameplay Trailer

DOUBLE DRAGON
Action | Players 1-2
Technos Japan
Store | Gameplay Trailer

TERRA CRESTA
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

CRAZY CLIMBER
Action | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Ninja-Kid
Action | Players 1-2
UPL
Store | Gameplay Trailer

MOON CRESTA
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Renegade
Action | Players 1-2
Technos Japan
Store | Gameplay Trailer

GRADIUS
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
KONAMI
Store | Gameplay Trailer

NOVA2001
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
UPL
Store | Gameplay Trailer

RAIDERS5
Puzzle | Players 1-2
UPL
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Scramble
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
KONAMI
Store | Gameplay Trailer

EXERION
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
JALECO
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Buta san
Action | Players 1-2
JALECO
Store | Gameplay Trailer

MAGMAX
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

BOMB JACK
Action | Players 1-2
Tehkan
Store | Gameplay Trailer

A-JAX
Shoot 'em up |Players 1-2
KONAMI
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Solomon's Key
Puzzle | Players 1-2
Tecmo
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Mr.GOEMON
Action | Players 1-2
KONAMI
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Karate Champ
Action | Players 1-2
Data East
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Shusse Ozumo
Sports | Players 1-2
Technos Japan
Store | Gameplay Trailer

CRAZY CLIMBER2
Action | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Cosmo Police Galivan
Action | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Ninja-Kid II
Action | Players 1-2
UPL
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Ikki
Action | Players 1-2
SUNSOFT
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Super Dodge Ball
Action | Players 1-2
Technos Japan
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Shanghai III
Puzzle | Players1-2
SUNSOFT
Store | Gameplay Trailer

THE LEGEND OF KAGE
Action | Players 1-2
TAITO
Store | Gameplay Trailer

TwinBee
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
KONAMI
Store | Gameplay Trailer

DOUBLE DRAGON II The Revenge
Action | Players 1-2
Technos Japan
Store | Gameplay Trailer

BUBBLE BOBBLE
Action | Players 1-2
TAITO
Store | Gameplay Trailer

LIFE FORCE
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
KONAMI
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Kid's Hore Hore Daisakusen
Action | Players 1-2
Nihchibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Armed F
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay Trailer

Gradius II
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
Konami
Store | Gameplay

MX5000
Shoot 'em up | Players 1-2
Konami
Store | Gameplay

Soldier Girl Amazon
Shoot'em up | Players 1-2
Nichibutsu
Store | Gameplay

Kiki Kaikai
Action | Players 1-2
TAITO
Store | Gameplay

Contra
Action | Players 1-2
Konami
Store | Gameplay

The King of Fighters '94
Fighting | Players 1-2
SNK
Store | Gameplay

How did this come about?

In April ’14, Hamster partnered with Nippon-Ichi after the former acquired the rights for Nihon-Busan’s entire Arcade library to bring arcade classics to PS4.

Wait, did I read that right? New game per month?

Yes. Aside from one hiccup, Hamster Corp has been consistent in putting out new games every month

Okay, so what’s been updated?

You’ve got a slew of display options, online leaderboards, SHAREPlay and Save States.

Uhhh…I don’t see a credit slot anywhere

Press the Triangle to put in more credits. Place a piggybank next to you and put in a quarter every now and then for maximum immersion.

Are there trophies?

Yes.

Are there Platinum trophies

No

The game I want hasn't been released yet
You can try hitting them up on Twitter

Can I...can I use my arcade stick?

Yes!

 

[Tizoc]

Only other release I'm looking forward to is Darius; any early 90s arcade games being considered for release?

 

[Maybesew]

Thank you for this thread. I have yet to purchase one of these, but have been VERY close on multiple occasions. Does anyone know if they ever go on sale? I haven't seen any, but would love Rygar and Wrestling....and then Life Force...and then...

 

[Tizoc]

Thank you for this thread. I have yet to purchase one of these, but have been VERY close on multiple occasions. Does anyone know if they ever go on sale? I haven't seen any, but would love Rygar and Wrestling....and then Life Force...and then...

Salamader/Life Force released this week on US PSN, don't expect it to go on sale for months.
Consider grabbing it now anyway it is a good port an is 3 games in 1.

 

[5taquitos]

I've hovered over the Buy button for several of these over the months, maybe I should just get some.

 

[spectator]

Thanks for the great OT!

I'm anxiously awaiting Elevator Action.

 

[gwailo]

Thank you for this thread. I have yet to purchase one of these, but have been VERY close on multiple occasions. Does anyone know if they ever go on sale? I haven't seen any, but would love Rygar and Wrestling....and then Life Force...and then...

They are on sale very rarely and it tends to be 1 or 2 titles.

 

[antitrop]

I enjoyed TwinBee, as always.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

Issue being the price of course. Especially simce people have been playing 100 times more of these already.

If they ever had hundreds of these and had them priced to where buying a few hundred of them were reasonable or a subscription to play all. I'd definitely consider it and likely do an arcade sub, ps1 and ps2 as well

 

[StereoVsn]

Issue being the price of course. Especially simce people have been playing 100 times more of these already.

If they ever had hundreds of these and had them priced to where buying a few hundred of them were reasonable or a subscription to play all. I'd definitely consider it and likely do an arcade sub, ps1 and ps2 as well

Yeah, $8 for each game seems too much. More reasonably priced collections would do better, IMO.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Ohhhh, nice! Glad this thread was made.

Subscribing.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I need to check out some of these.

Is there a list of upcoming titles?

 

[OneEightZero]

Most. Vertical. OP.

I didn't realize Gradius was on there. Memories. ^_^

 

[Andrefpvs]

Thanks for this thread! I'll check back every month!

Any good game in particular I should keep in mind? I'm only familiar with about 5 of these. Is Super Dodge Ball good?

 

[Ktg1973]

Cross fingers for

-Rainbow Island
-The New Zealand Story
-King of Boxing
-Mikie
-Sky Kid
-Burger Time

 

[Firestorm ZERO]

I find it weird why don't they also release these games on Vita as well as it would be nice fit. I'm guessing because people would be demanding cross-buy and the profit margins are low.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

Yeah, $8 for each game seems too much. More reasonably priced collections would do better, IMO.

Yeah, I also have mame etc. I just can't fathom to bite on these


I would go for 3d games as long as they were scaled well for 1080p. But still want good prices and bundles. Sega racing, Capcom fighters.

These things always fail because of lack of implementation, missing games and prices. Xbox tried, SNK tried, sega had tried but with lack of games a decent bad pricing not sure what they expect. Need nice artwork, too end menus, most of the games to make it and pricing that makes buying 50 games affordable. buy two games at 10 each and people give up, or a dollar a piece? I'm sure more folks would buy more and spend more to have a nice collection in that situation. If probably buy them all instead of none currently

 

[Tapejara]

The only one of these I've ever seen go on sale was Crazy Climber, which is why I bought it lol. I also picked up Rygar but only played enough to get all of the trophies.

What are some of the best shmups? I know Gradius is well regarded so that's on my buy list, anything else?

 

[FSLink]

How's the emulation quality? I would pick a few of these up but I can't find any information on how accurate the emulation is. No "well it seems good enough" replies please.

 

[Rymuth]

I need to check out some of these.

Is there a list of upcoming titles?

- Darius
- Elevator Action
- Flak Attack
- Front Line
- Gradius II
- Kid's Horehore Daisakusen
- Kiki Kaikai
- The Ninja Warriors
- Soldier Girl Amazon
- Star Force
- Wonder Boy
- Wonder Boy in Monster Land

 

[daydream]

giant bomb has quick look'd all of the packs out in japan btw

you can find the videos here

 

[RadarScope1]

Subbed! Thanks OP.

 

[orborborb]

I've picked up A-Jax, Terra Cresta, Solomon's Key, Rygar, Bubble Bobble, Gradius, and Life Force.

I've played these all on MAME and the audio seemed maybe a bit better in these versions but otherwise didn't notice any differences. Input lag was an issue with Gradius and Life Force on a ~2-3 frame lag TV but the other games were playable. On my very low lag monitor Gradius and Life Force were playable.

 

[Augemitbutter]

thank you. subbed.

 

[katsubento]

Been debating on some of these since I liked a lot of them growing up.

 

[Gen X]

Been waiting for Rygar on the UK store for so long that I've given up looking.

 

[Psxphile]

Neat! But why am I seeing slowdown in titles like Gradius and Life Force? Is that supposed to be arcade-accurate?

Might want to fix the Double Dragon gameplay trailer, it links DDII instead of the first.

 

[Suzzopher]

The US store line up is so much better than Europe.

I have tweeted Hamster a few times but they never respond.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

I feel that Sony is missing a trick not creating a sub service for these games. Ill happily pay £5 a month for unlimted access to all Arcade archive titles, but you can fuck right off with £7.99 each.

 

[Tizoc]

The US store line up is so much better than Europe.

I have tweeted Hamster a few times but they never respond.

They are the same games as on jp psn
I guess having the games released on eu psn just takes a longer time?

 

[Agent X]

There are some good games in the mix, but $8 each is too much to ask, in my book. That's the only reason I haven't purchased any of them yet. If they were selling for about half of that price, then I would probably buy several.

 

[Movalpolos]

If I can't use save states I will have to resort to using drugs.

 

[RS4-]

I feel that Sony is missing a trick not creating a sub service for these games. Ill happily pay £5 a month for unlimted access to all Arcade archive titles, but you can fuck right off with £7.99 each.

how I feel too. Price per game is brutal.

 

[Deleted member 284]

FYI: Exciting Hour is the first really good wrestling video game.

 

[JP]

I have a couple of these already, didn't realise that TwinBee was also available. I do wish that they have an option to store them as a single Arcade Archives collection in which you just select the games you want,

 

[Shig]

- Darius
- Elevator Action
- Flak Attack
- Front Line
- Gradius II
- Kid's Horehore Daisakusen
- Kiki Kaikai
- The Ninja Warriors
- Soldier Girl Amazon
- Star Force
- Wonder Boy
- Wonder Boy in Monster Land

Nice. I'mma buy the fuck out Darius and The Ninja Warriors.

 

[SmokedMeat]

- Darius
- Elevator Action
- Flak Attack
- Front Line
- Gradius II
- Kid's Horehore Daisakusen
- Kiki Kaikai
- The Ninja Warriors
- Soldier Girl Amazon
- Star Force
- Wonder Boy
- Wonder Boy in Monster Land

Oh nice! Ninja Warriors and Elevator Action work for me! I'm going to have to buy some PSN cards.

It's weird how Microsoft couldn't get anywhere with their attempt at an arcade, while Sony's archive collection is picking up some classics. I'm guessing it's the premium asking price?

 

[BigWeather]

Game Room had plenty of classics and plenty of... not so classics.

 

[Cthulhu_Steev]

I have a couple of these already, didn't realise that TwinBee was also available. I do wish that they have an option to store them as a single Arcade Archives collection in which you just select the games you want,

I wish they'd so this as well, or at least give the portion to group them under one icon (although that would basically mean folders are implemented, even better!).

Looking forward to Star Force though!

 

[liquidtmd]

Am so in for both Wonderboy games

 

[Corleth the Fey]

FYI: Exciting Hour is the first really good wrestling video game.

Totally. Such a great game.

Keep a look out for Starforce as well. That game is brilliant. The quintessential old school vertical shooter.

As for the poster who said about slowdown in Gradius and Salamander / Lifeforce. Pretty sure the original arcade versions had it. I can remember them doing it.

I wish they'd so this as well, or at least give the portion to group them under one icon (although that would basically mean folders are implemented, even better!).

Looking forward to Star Force though!

Heh, high five for the Starforce mention, dude.

 

[Jucksalbe]

I feel that Sony is missing a trick not creating a sub service for these games. Ill happily pay £5 a month for unlimted access to all Arcade archive titles, but you can fuck right off with £7.99 each.

Are they really £7.99? They are all €6.99, so £7.99 would be one hell of a conversion.

 

[Suzzopher]

Are they really £7.99? They are all €6.99, so £7.99 would be one hell of a conversion.

They are now £5.79.

 

[Ktg1973]

I've realized that Kid's Horehore Daisakusen was Doraemon on the Pc Engine. Same game, with different sprites.

 

[antitrop]

Just picked up Life Force. The slowdown is incredible and the digitized voice samples are hilariously bad. "Kidney stones cannot be destroyed!" had me rolling.

Anyway, I hope they get R-Type up there. That was my favorite childhood shmup.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Just picked up Life Force. The slowdown is incredible and the digitized voice samples are hilariously bad. "Kidney stones cannot be destroyed!" had me rolling.

Anyway, I hope they get R-Type up there. That was my favorite childhood shmup.

So many memories of that game as a kid, lol. I need to pick it up again. Ditto on R-Type.

 

[Knuf]

This OT was so much needed and way overdue, thank you so much for doing it, Rymuth!
OP would be even better if it listed what games are actually available in EU, too, since not every game in OP is out here yet (Bomb Jack, Solomon's Key and Rygar, where are you?!). ;_;
And ofc thanks to Hamster for porting all these amazing games!

 

[kyser73]

Might have to invest in Bubble Bobble, and here's hoping on Rainbow Islands & Xevious.

 

[Pookmunki]

My wife will be so happy once Bombjack hits EU

 

[Roshin]

Issue being the price of course. Especially simce people have been playing 100 times more of these already.

Yes, and availability.

I would pick up Rygar and Life Force this quick (snaps fingers) if they were available in the EU.

I guess having the games released on eu psn just takes a longer time?

Like never, yes.